Cthulhu bust

After 39.M Csaba was done the plan was to work on some more hungarian armor. But since these models are pretty cute I wanted to make them even cooler - by adding the crew. Lucky for me Warlord released hungarian tank crew set which can be used on vehicles remaining in the pile of shame and to replace original german officer running the Hetzer.

Since I was waiting to get the crew anyway, decision was made to splash some paint on other piece of resin chunk waiting on the very bottom of Ye Bucket. It's old Cthulhu bust. The idea to get it done was spawned, because recently I started reading some Call of Cthulhu RPG materials and having good time reading those spooky stories and scenarios. The model cannot help with potencial gaming (both RPG and miniatures) but it might be nice background for taking photos of adventurers or cursed Dagon cultists. It also can be used as office decoration or as melee weapon (that wooden base should easily crush any skull).

As for painting - I wouldn't even think about it without having an airbrush ready for action. Sadly lots of parts are really hard to get (not only for painting but also for cleaning mould lines) so I had to hide these flaws in deeper shadows, properly taken pictures and hobby cheats like that. Original base was resin cast of wooden block, but IMO it wasn't big enough for such a model so I got something bit larger (proper wood this time). 

Any conclusion?
It was huge pain in the ass to paint but I'm glad having one more piece painted. It's always nice feeling having another model saved from the jar of shame (one of few jars actually). This one was eating lots of precious storage space. Hope you like it anyway 🦑

Already in the office - temporarly. Will be guarding the papers until I find better place for the piece:

Alien handmaiden (Crooked Dice)

So it finally happened:

last Saturday night we have finally managed to play Call of Cthulhu role-playing game! 🦑

The last time I was running CoC was maybe like 10 years ago? But my investigators were playing much, much formerly. It was kinda big success to gather old friends together to play the game after such a long time although adjusting date took us like 2 months. Writing a scenario was fun itself (started last November) and I'm glad after 4-5 hours of playing there's one more session ahead.

Anyway while waiting for the session and having recent Sherman crossed off the list, I decided to paint something different before starting another Bolt Action thing. Reaching deep into bucket of shame I've found alien thing from Crooked Dice range I got quite a long tome ago together with some cultists. I never had any idea for this guy but coming RPG session put me into mood for painting something from eldritch horror range. Plus it turned out it was sculpted by my buddy from Chest of Colors times: Mr Bug Man. While assembling the model I realised it had some parts very similar to alien drop pod I from from Nav a while back. Very organic and disturbing piece!

As for painting I used some organic, natural tones hoping to make it look somehow believable. Don't think my investigators will meet somethink like this anytime soon (or anytime at all...) but I am really happy this beautie got the colors. And I am pretty sure Call of Cthulhu wide range of miniatures will get own shelf as soon as new display case arrives...

And below: eldritch horror about to eat Dagon cultists and investigators in perilous Dunwich outskirts:

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!!! 🤘🏻

Moon Clan (Chaos beastmen) #3

Before launching hobby-spam there's quick technical annuncement. As you can see I've slightlty changed layout of the blog. I think it's temporary (header seems bit too massive) but we'll see shortly. I've also dumped "best posts ever" widget. I was nice to have most popular posts around, but sadly most of them contain old pics f#cked by Photobucket back days, so they weren't much cool anymore because of that silly Photobucket logo attatched 🙄

Also a while back I found a bug is "spam of the year" section as well: 

the top post (the one with Plague Marine)  was launched in 2014 and yet it's still on the top last year's best chart. No idea why: there's no way to make any post sticky, tried to re-launch that gizmo - no effect. I can sure delete old post but the again - why should I surrender to some stupid bloggy bug? 🙄

If you have any idea how to fix that - shout, I'll be grateful for any help. 

As for the proper topic - another 3 villains joined beastmen gang, so the project is ~70% finished: there are 3 more fellas to be done + basing. I was deeply hoping to bring them for Oldhammer Weekend Poland 2025 painting contest, but sadly once again real life stepped in so the plan got dumped. Oh well - at least I don't have to rush with them anymore... The guys got bit more reddish flesh tone but apart from that I tried to keep the same color palette so whole team looks coherent marching together. Painting those oldie beastmen is ton of fun, but really cannot wait to cross them off the list to paint something from science fiction range (like Chaos Cultists band from 40K...):

And finally: goat boys vs squid boys split second before a brief but vigorous fight erupts!

The well (Black Grom Studio)

I am still waiting for Hetzer model to come (together with some other bitz to be used as Bolt Action terrain features) but as I'm trying to keep myself busy in every aspect of life - I've managed to cross off pair of wells from Black Grom Studio from shameful yet-to-do list.

I got these models few years back and must admit I totally forgot about them until I started looking for materials for the big forest few weeks back. Getting them done took like two evenings - most of the time took drying (pva glue, oil washes etc). These are pretty small terrain features, surely not as eye-catching as bunker for example, but in my opinion all those small bits add lots of character to the battlefield - especially in WW2 settings. I mean all those wrecked cars, barrels, oil drums stocks etc. 

Apart from fact wells look just cool and provide water supply for locals (or Dagon cultists in this particular case) they are big enough to provide solid cover for snipers, spotter, artillery observers and all other pain in the ass models staggering on the battlefield. Hope to see the on the battlefield on the next match. Some scale shots below:

The wells sauté - once again I can only recommend Black From Studio stuff 😊

And if you like wells, human tears and songs - Carpathian Forest recorded something which fits the mood perfectly... Merry blue Monday!💀

US infantry (winter war) #2

After dealing with recent Warhammer Slaanesh Vampire I came back to western Europe WW2 front. Back days I was just so tired of painting everything green but now, after taking a break for fantasy stuff, working on Bolt Action stuff is just refreshing.

My trusty U.S. army hasn't found new owner yet, so decision was made to refresh the boys and repaint them in winter fashion. A while back test squad has been done like that and must admit I really like the result. I'm guessing it's the matter of contrast between uniforms and snow. Would really like to see tanks painted long time ago re-done for winter fighting, but that's not gonna happen until I get enough G.I. to field full winter selector army.

While waiting for the undercoat on infantry is dry and ready for painting I decided to adjust one of old Dodge 3/4 transporters to winter conditions. I don't really like the muddy effect on the car, so some field winter camo supported by artificial snow should improve the look.

I think after the second half of the squad is finished I might come back to terrain building. I was hoping to rebuild piece of forest we use during the summer, but somehow it was pretty busy period. Maybe long autumn evenings can provide better atmosphere for such stuff.

Eldritch Jeep

A while back I painted some Jeeps to support my Bolt Action US force. It turned out there was one more model left. At this stage I have more Jeeps my army can use, so decision was made this one is coming back where it came from - to the manufacturer 😊

Obviously it wasn't supposed to be a "normal" gaming model (more like a souvenir) so it got unusual paintjob and some eldritch junk inside: I imagined it leaving some excavation site or maybe ancient graveyard, loaded with robbed stuff.

Must say I really like the final result - working on model was quick and pleasant (the piece is pretty simple) and adding the bits was just fun (these also came from Warpainter btw). Pink color is pretty unusual on tabletop battlefields but I've painted such models before: Italian Autoblinda and German Brummbar. Choosing unusual colors is ton of fun every time.

So here it is. 

Below - some pathetic christian priest trying to stop grave robber from stealing ancient tomes and mysterious flask (split-second before getting bullet in the stupid head):

And the wheeler in the full grace:

Post-apo war bot

Hey,

This time it's something different yet something I wanted to paint for quite a long time. A while back there was a plan to create post-apo gang based on classic Valhallans sculpts. 

Sadly all I've managed to do was war bot heavy support, which was based on 40k killa kan. 

Never liked the result and was looking for an opportunity to re-do it, which just happened.

First I replaced that silly cannon with napalm drum - flamer ain't most economic weapon after all. As for painting I finally gave a try to warning stripes: the result is just cool, and I kinda regret it hasn't been painted also on other surfaces (front plate or maybe oil drum).

As for red star - the idea was to make the first neo-soviet model for skirmish game my friend's been preparing for a while. There will be swamps, nuclear glow, eldritch creatures and post-apo arsenal so apparently megaton of fun is coming! 👽

BOW DOWN BEFORE THE COLLECTIVE, ELDRITCH SCUM! 

Cthulhu investigator #2

Hey,

Recently fearless investigator left my painting station and it turned out it was so much fun working on it I decided to paint some more. 

As mentioned before I plan to make my players use low-class characters so this time it's a thief / robber (Grave robber maybe? Veeery cthulhish!) from oldschool EM4 line. 

The model is part of Dunitch Detectives pre-painted set but just like in case of chaplain - it was washed off and got some fresh colors. Now I'm looking proper model for a drifter...

And some pictures:

Getting into wrong cemetery:

Digging the wrong grave... 😅

Cthulhu investigator

I'm bit ill so trying not to get any worse I am sitting home painting some random stuff. Painting and patiently waiting for that damn Vallejo snow effect for KV-2 tank... 

Anyway a while back if turned out my buddy from legal training it also Cthulhu worshipper... Eee... Eee... Meant: Call of Cthulhu player... Yeah... That's correct... 😈 

He didn't know there's whole range of Call of Cthulhu dedicated miniatures so decision was made to paint a little gift. The model comes from West Wind Productions line: a while back I got some models for CoC diorama but somehow that project hasn't been executed yet. 

Sadly

So here he is: brave investigator confronting horros from beyond:

"Hello, Wilbur! What are you hiding in that shed?"

About to bring some corrupted Dagon cultists to justice:

And accompanied by other "classic" investigators: chaplain and redneck moonshiner:

I want to play Call of Cthulhu so badly right now...

Mark IV tank (female) walkthrough

How about that?

After several months I've find myself a female:
solid, 27 tons piece of ass straight from British WWI armoury:
mark IV battle tank (female version)!

The wirus keeps most of people locked in so this one is another victim of painting frenzy.
I've always loved that war machine, it's shape is so wicked cool! Not mentioning the fact there was something similar in one of Indiana Jones movies (although that one was a fake).

Don't think it will be ever used on proper battle but it should be handy during Call of Cthulhu RPG sessions. If we live long enough to have a game that is...

Nice lady who provided the model asked me to prepare some walkthrough text while working on the model, and while I am gentleman and half-cadaver I couldn't refuse.
So here it is - hope you like the final effect.

Dry model, sealed with Revell matt varnish:
hungry for blood, ready to storm trench lines and repell mi-go invaders:

The same with pair of ones for the scale (Ia! Ia! Ia!):

And the proper walkthrough:

See? I told you: a female!

Dismantled female...

Assembling wasn't difficult, but sometimes resin elements come kinda bended - check the track on the left. The solution is hot water: throw there screwed element, give it some time and it can be bended back. I had same thing with my Dodge's canopy:

Problem solved!

Lady is now assembled and ready for some action:

First coat was Vallejo's dunkelgelb (spray). I think any dark spray would be good choice, I just needed undercoat so airbrushed paint sticks harder:

The model was airbrushed with mix of reddish brown, mahogany and black - I use such tone for most of my vehicles. After paint dried some chipping medium was applied for further scratches etc, but you can skip if you prefer clean vehicles:

Green brown from Vallejo Air line:

Followed by desert yellow:

And desert yellow with some white...

And some more white for stronger contrast:

As you can see on oldie pics the tank had some white and red stripes at the sides so I covered desired area with several layers of white using medium size brush. Couldn't put masking tape and just use spray because of the rivets:

The red stripe was painted with mix of bloody red and gory red. I picked finer brush trying to keep the lines straight and avoid causing red mess especially on white area:

Decals: I chose simple numbers and bolts from Bolt Action US vehicles, but you can also skip this phase: I've seen lots of pics of such tanks having no markings, numbers of whatever. You can also put your girlfriend's name on it - I'msure that would make her day. 

Try keep it simple anyway: it's not WH40K with those dumbass skulls murals on every flat surface possible...

Metallics: tracks and machine guns' barrels were painted with boltgun metal + chaos black.
It's metallic paint so let it dry TOTALLY before the next step. 

The beam:

at first idea was to paint it dirty brown but all in all decided to give model some contrast so I went for green. Colors used:

- dark brown undercoat (exactly the same as first color airbrushed on the tank);

- tank green (but any dark green would be fine);

- interior green;

- interor green + duck egg;

- metal sides and rivets were painted with boltgun + black, just like tracks and barrels:

After having a dinner metal parts got dry so I glazed tracks and the beam with diluted track rust pigment from AK line. It's very intensive color so be careful, you need only small amount of it to get nice result. As always two thin layers are better than a thick one:

In the meantime anxious deep one emerged from beyond the desk to check what those wacky investigators were up to...

As menioned the beginning chipping medium was applied on the base dark brown. 

As this stage I used damp sponge and cotton bud to wipe some paint off. Not too much really, but those large surfaces are bit dull with no battle damage:

Oil paint:

some black and brown were mixed and diluted with turpentine, then hull was painted:

Excess of paint was washed off with some turps:

The same procedure, this time I mixed cadmium yellow and gold ochre:

And washed again:

The exhaust pipe was painted using charred brown, parasite brown and rust - all colors from Vallejo game color line.

Tried to paint some streaks of dirt so dots of oil paint were painted on the tank first:

And then they were washed off:
wash them trom top to botton to get the streak. You can repeat the procedure, add new colors etc - oil paints are fun to work with:

I wanted to keep model dusty rather than muddy, but last week I run out of pigmrnt binder while working on the furies, so only some of it was applied in the corners.

Matt varnish is drying, model is now almost ready for action:

Buuut the tank provider asked me to add some mud as well:

I used Vallejo's ready-to-use thick mud, just take large brush or toothbrush and go berserk!

I liked the hull so decided not to sink the piece in the biggest puddle around Somme, just applied some mud around the tracks, like the tank is just leaving line of departure.
Or something...

More pics on the top of the post:

Over and out.